


A Hobbit's Legacy

by Ronile



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works, The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 21:45:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ronile/pseuds/Ronile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo's story inspires Legolas and Gimli to take the first tentitive steps towards friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hobbit's Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> Scene - Lothlorien during FOTR.

 

“It's so good to be clean again!” Pippin lay on the grass, half dressed in his new elvish clothes. “I'd almost forgotten what it feels like.”

 

 Frodo sat beside Pippin and ran his fingers through the tangle that had replaced his once well-groomed hair. “I know what you mean, although I wish now that I had not washed my hair so vigorously. It's grown so long, and I have nothing to cut it.”

 

 “There's always Strider's knife.” Said Merry, attempting to flatten his own head of unruly curls.

 

 “That thing is coming nowhere near my head,” Said Frodo, “and certainly not wielded by Strider, I don't think he's had a single haircut in his life.”

 

 “I don't think any of them have.” Said Sam, “Boromir or Legolas or Gimli. They all wear their hair long. I don't know how they put up with it.” He pulled at the mess of hair which was now around his shoulders.

 

 “I can't speak for the others,” Said Gimli, sitting himself beside the hobbits, his own wet hair hanging down to his waist. “But for the dwarves long hair is a sign of status and considered attractive. We braid it most of the time to keep it manageable, I could show you if you like.” He passed his comb to Sam who accepted it gratefully.

 

 “Oh I can braid hair well enough.” Replied Sam. “I used to do my little sisters' and cousins' when they were small. It's not really the done thing for hobbit men though, we wear ours short.”

 

 “That never bothered Bilbo.”

 

 “I've never seen Bilbo with his hair braided.”

 

 “When he travelled with my father he used to allow Thorin do it. Dwarven braids on a hobbit! They say there is a first time for everything.”

 

 “He never told me that.” Said Frodo. “He rarely mentions Thorin.”

 

 "I'm not surprised, even though they made up after the business with the arkenstone, my father says he was never the same hobbit again. He refused to stay in the mountain after Dáin became king, no matter how much the company begged him.”

 

 “They used to visit him in the Shire.” Frodo said, remembering. “Sometimes they brought presents for me and the other children.”

 

 “They were the best toys I ever had.” Said Pippin. “If dwarven braids are good enough for Bilbo, they're good enough for me! I've had quite enough of hair in my eyes. Would you show me Gimli?”

 

 “If you think you can sit still for long enough.” So Pippin settled himself between Gimli's knees and the dwarf got to work. He had just finished when a horn sounded through the trees.

 

 “That'll be lunch.” Said Pippin. He reached up and touched the tiny interwoven braids on his head. “Thank you Gimli, are you coming?”

 

 “I'll join you in a minute, I just need to tidy my things up here.”

 

The hobbits were soon out of sight and Gimli turned his attention back to his own hair. He quickly braided it into it's customary style reached for something to fasten the end. Then he realised, he had used all his ties in Pippin's hair. He looked around, holding the end of the braid in one hand, there had to be something here he could use.

 

 “Looking for something?” Gimli looked up in surprise, he had assumed he was alone but now he saw that Legolas was seated nearby, quietly mending the ties on his cloak.

 

 “Nothing important, I just need something to bind my hair.” To Gimli's surprise Legolas got up and rummaged in his pack before coming over to where Gimli sat.

 

 “Will this be sufficient?” Legolas held out a length of fine silver thread. Not wanting to seem ungrateful Gimli took it and tied his hair. To his surprise it held.

 

 “My thanks elf.” He said gruffly, a little put off by Legolas's sudden kindness towards him.

 

 Legolas turned as if to return to his work, but then something made him stop. “I heard your story about Bilbo, I did not know the two of you were friends.”

 

 “He is more a friend of my father's than my own, but he is very highly regarded among my people. Though it may have taken Thorin a while too see it, his gamble with the arkenstone prevented a terrible war.”

 

 “Indeed. I was there that day, although I knew nothing of Bilbo at the time. When we finally met in Rivendell he very much enjoyed telling me of the time he spent stealing food from my cellars. I didn't have the heart to tell him of the innocent guards who were disciplined because of him.”

 

 “He did what he had to do. My people will forever be in Bilbo's debt, for all his many deeds. He is counted kin to us.”

 

 “And yet he chose to live out his remaining days in Rivendell, with the elves?” It was a question, with a hint of a challenge.

 

 Gimli considered this carefully, “There are few who can truly be called both elf-friend and khazâd-bâh, Bilbo is one of them. The peace between the three northern kingdoms exists only because of him.”

 

 “And yet it is also because of him that the fate of the world now lies in the hands of his nephew.” Replied Legolas.

 

 “Fate is a strange thing. It is because of Bilbo that we are here on this evil quest, and yet I feel in my heat that his legacy will be one of friendship, not of war. At least I hope it will be, he has played only a small and unwilling part in the plans of Sauron.”

 

 “That is true, but still I fear for Frodo, more so than ever now that Gandalf is lost to us.” Legolas turned away, once again looking troubled.

 

 “As do we all. Aragorn perhaps most of all, for it is he who must now lead us, and have the fate of the ring-bearer in his hands. But let us not speak of such things here, this place is too beautiful to be tainted with such thoughts.”

 

 Legolas looked back at him, surprise on his face. “I would not have looked for such appreciation from a dwarf. All this time I believed your kind to think nothing beautiful but gold and jewels.”

 

 Gimli caught the smile on the elf's lips and checked the anger he felt at the accusation. “Do they not say that beauty can be found in even the most unlikely of places? And where should be less likely than the realm of the elves?”

 

 Legolas laughed. “Let it never be said again that dwarves cannot craft words in the way they do steel.”

 

 Gimli smiled, and as he did so he realised this first time he had truly smiled since they had entered Moria. “I will choose to take that as a compliment, rather than an insult to my people's craft.”

 

 “As it pleases you, I can make no promise of that.”

 

 Gimli tried to be insulted, he really did, but somehow it just wasn't there. When had their guarded words turned into this playful banter? Perhaps it was the magic of this place, he didn't know, but he could not deny it. “Fate is indeed a strange thing.” He said, almost to himself.

 

 Legolas raised an eyebrow, a request for an explanation.

 

 “Many of my kind would never have dreamed of seeing dwarven braids on a hobbit, and yet because of Bilbo it happened” He looked up at Legolas with a sly smile. “Perhaps because of him we will one day see dwarven braids on a elf.”

 

 Legolas smiled. “Perhaps.”

 

 Gimli shook his head as if suddenly realising the insanity of what he had just said. “We should go, before the hobbits eat every morsel of food in the forest.”

 

 “I fear it is already much too late for that, but we may as well make certain.” As they disappeared into the trees Legolas continued, “Do you plan to inform Pippin that you have given him a hairstyle typically worn by adolescent dwarf girls?”

 

 Gimli laughed. “That depends entirely on how much food is left.”


End file.
